


Lonely Affair

by WritingCoffeeAddiction



Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dark, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Feelings Realization, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Mentioned Pregnancy, Mentions of kidnapping, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-13 10:44:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11758185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingCoffeeAddiction/pseuds/WritingCoffeeAddiction
Summary: Nicky finds Lorna in the prison's medical room and the two discuss what has happened to them in the past day. Based on episodes 12 and 13 of season 5 but written how I imagine it should have happened. Lorna/Nicky. (Two-Shot)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the show or it's characters or the storyline. All I own is the writing and whatever is not in the show.
> 
> Author's Note: This is based on the last two episodes of season 5, but written how I imagine it should have happened. There will be a second chapter.

_Lonely Affair_

Lorna is half-asleep leaning on the medicine cabinet behind her when she hears a familiar raspy voice calling out her name. The sound of that voice brings a warm sensation over her—she hasn't talked to her since she saw her having sex in the hallway with another woman. Deep down, she knows it's her own fault; she knows that talking to Nicky about her potential pregnancy and marriage is the cause of that and hates herself for always managing to ruin things between the two of them.

Cautiously, she stands up and walks over to the door—staring into the somewhat pained brown eyes of her on-again-off-again best friend-slash-potential lover. "Nicky? What on earth happened to you? You don't look too good," the brunette softly says, unlocking the door to let her in. Her eyes linger worriedly on the taller inmate's face, desperately searching for clues.

"Gee, thanks kid," Nicky's voice exhaustedly remarks. She sighs, though, letting her hands lightly brush across the other's forehead. "Let's just say, what happened last night makes a drug withdrawal sound ten times better. And with that said, there happen to be any good drugs in here? I need somethin' to take away this pounding headache."

Shaking her head violently, Lorna gives a firm stare towards the older woman. "You are absolutely  _not_  taking no drugs, Nicky! Hell no. What happened—what was so bad that it makes ya wanna go through a withdrawal?" She grabs Nicky's hand and has her sit down with her on the ground.

"Nothin' ya needa be concerned about, kid," Nicky lets out a frustrated groan. Looking closely at the woman sitting beside her, Nicky sighs sadly—no matter how angry Lorna's actions can make her, she knows she can never truly leave her. Her hand gently reaches over to touch the smaller inmate's hand, "Are you doin' okay, Lorna?"

Lorna sticks her hand up in her face, shaking her head. "I ain't answering that til' ya tell me what the hell happened with you!"

"Look kid, what happened last night is something I know will terrify ya and keep you worrying all night—I prefer not to do either of those things to ya. So, let's just drop it, yeah?"

Her bottom lip lightly frowns while her concerned brown eyes peer delicately up into Nicky's. She allows one of her hands to gently grab at one of the other woman's hand, giving it a soft stroke with her thumb. "Please just tell me, Nicky. I need to know what happened to ya—did one of the guards do somethin' to ya?" Lorna warmly questions, keeping her eyes on her friend.

"Somethin' like that you could say...he didn't do anything to me,  _directly_ ," Nicky slowly answers, her headache seeming to worsen at the memories of the horrific events of the previous night.

"Which guard was it? What do you mean he didn't do nothin' to ya ' _directly'_?"

Gazing down at the cold tile floor, Nicky traces her finger around the marble pattern that covers it. She slowly shakes her head. "That monstrous Piscatella—apparently Red was not crazy when she kept saying he was coming—he kidnapped me and a few others, including ma. Thank God he didn't fucking take you too, kid, because I know you wouldn't have been able to handle what he put us through," her voice lowly states.

Lorna's hand cautiously covers one of the redhead's as her brown eyes peer delicately up at her. "What-what he do to ya?" Her voice quietly inquires. She brushes her thumb tenderly over her friend's knuckles, trying to bring some comfort to her.

"Nothing too outrageous…he did fuckin' use a knife to slice some of ma's hair off, though—I wish I could have fucking taken that knife from him and stuck it right in his neck! I can't stand that bastard," Nicky nearly growls, her face reddening with anger at the horrific memory. She can feel her hands shaking with the amount of fury she's experiencing.

Caressing her knuckles, Lorna feels her heart soar for the older inmate. Her eyes widen at the thought of Nicky's having to witness such a sight. "He-he actually did that to Red? And-and you had to watch it? I'm real sorry, hon; I'm so sorry you had to go through something so scary! Does-does he still have Red? Where is he?"

Letting out a sigh, Nicky's anger immediately softens at the brunette's comforting yet frantic words. She cups her porcelain cheeks into her hands and stares affectionately into her orbs, "Don't be, kid. I'm fine—Red's fine, and so is everyone else. One of the golden girls—Frieda I think it is—she clucked him in the back of the head and now he's lying unconscious in the prison basement…tied up, of course. Hopefully, she'll finish the job with that poisonous tea of hers or else I fucking will. He doesn't deserve to live anymore, not after the hell he's put ma through!"

Lorna gently runs her hand through Nicky's—for once—neatly groomed hair. "Where is she?"

"She and the rest of the family are all down in the basement—trying to stay out of this mess up here. Now enough about that shit, I rather focus my energy on something less traumatizing," the other curtly responds. Her brown eyes pour heavily down into Lorna's, wanting desperately to know what kind of mess she might have gotten herself into now. "What have you been doin' all day, kid? Still playing doctor, yeah?"

With a slight gulp, the brunette gives a curt nod. Her eyes peer down at her hands. She instantly regrets the subject change—the last thing she wants to talk about is herself. Not when she's already angered Nicky with previous discussion of her now real pregnancy. She certainly doesn't want to bring up the fact that she has a drawer full of positive pregnancy tests—that, she knows, will only make the redhead hate her even more and she definitely doesn't want that.

"Something's bothering ya, yeah?" Nicky sighs, noticing the dazed look on the other's face. She gently lifts her chin so that their eyes are met with one another. "What's the problem, Lorna? Talk to me. It's your turn to vent—you made me tell you about my horrific night, now you tell me about yours."

"No, there's nothing bothering me. I just—I feel bad for what ya went through."

Shaking her head with some irritation, Nicky stares sternly down into her eyes. "Don't lie. I can see right through it, kid. Tell me what's the matter!"

Lorna lets out a sigh. "It's nothing important, Nicky. Don't worry bout' it." Her eyes sadly gaze down at the floor; she traces her hand around on the fabric of her khakis, trying to keep her eyes anywhere but on the woman beside her.

" _It is_  important if it's making you upset, Lorna! Please just fucking tell me what it is," Nicky practically bags her. Her hands hold lovingly onto the smaller woman's face as her big orbs gaze softly into hers.

Groaning, Lorna cautiously gives up and complies. "Fine, but I know it'll make you mad and probably hate me even more than you already do—"

Before the Italian can even finish her sentence, Nicky immediately stops her with a warm embrace and tender kiss on the head. "Hate you even more than I already do? The fuck makes ya think that kinda shit, kid? I could never hate you, no matter how frustrating you can be sometimes. Just tell me what it is, Lorna. I won't hate you for it or get mad—probably not anyway," she warmly answers, wrapping her arms snug around the brunette's waist.

"After-after I told you I was pregnant—even before taking any test to confirm it—I-I called Vinny and he drove up here and well, I wanted to tell him somehow about the baby, so one of them Spanish girls took me up to the roof. And when I saw him standing in the crowd of people, I-I told him. He didn't even say anything—he just immediately got in his car and left…now he won't even fuckin' answer my calls! It's true, Nicky, I am pregnant—I took a dozen tests and they all came back the same. Here _, look_ ," she cries out, opening the drawer behind them to reveal the load of pregnancy tests each with a positive result.

" _Holy fuck_ ," Nicky mutters, staring in awe at the many positive tests. She sighs, peering back down at Lorna with a guilty expression starting to wash over her face. "You really are pregnant, babe. I'm sorry I didn't believe you before; I just can't imagine a little tiny human comin' outta ya, kid."

Her lips softly press against the smaller woman's temple. "Fuck that piece of shit Vinny! He obviously doesn't deserve a woman like you in his life if he's gonna run away the minute he finds out he's impregnated you with his child! You deserve better, Lorna—don't settle for some asshole like him, he ain't worthy of your love."

Lorna shakes her head, staring sadly down at her stomach. Tears slowly fall from her eyes at the thought of going through a pregnancy in prison without even the father involved in it. "He-he's my baby's father though—I don't want my baby to be without a parent while I'm stuck here! My sister has her own kids to worry about and my mom is barely aware of her own fucking self! And there's no way my dad will want another baby in the house—I don't want my own baby put into the system, Nicky! Please tell me what to do," she tearfully begs, gripping tightly onto the older woman's shoulders.

"Shh, shh, shh," the redhead softly soothes. She gently pulls Lorna into her arms, rubbing her back in comforting circles. "First, ya need to calm down and breathe. You have nine months to worry about all that, kid. Getting all worked up isn't gonna do ya any good. I know being pregnant in here is not the most appealing thing but I promise I'll help you in any way I can. Vinny obviously doesn't care and therefore does not deserve you nor your baby, so just try to forget about that son of a bitch."

Staring tearfully up at her, Lorna grips desperately tight onto her shirt. "How are you gonna be able to help me? The baby can't stay in prison—I'm gonna have to give him up to the fuckin' state, Nicky!  _I'll never get to see him!_ "

Brushing her fingers delicately through the Italian woman's brown hair, Nicky gives a soothing kiss to the top of her head. "Lorna, please take a deep breath and just calm down. You don't need to be worrying about this right now, kid. We have to worry about getting the hell out of this riot before we all end up with more time on our sentences. That's what is most important right now. Let's go back down to the basement—we're all staying down there until this fucking chaos ends."

Nicky stands up, gently pulling Lorna up as well, and starts to walk out of the room with her. The minute they step outside the tiny medical station, they're greeted with an even more chaotic mess than just hours ago. Inmates are being tackled to the ground in almost every direction. Guards—mostly unrecognizable ones—are flooding the hallway, harshly handling the women.

A sigh escapes the redhead as she tightens her hold on Lorna. She presses a warm kiss to her head and cups her face in her hands, staring softly into her eyes. "Change of plans—you're better off if you go surrender to these guys. You got a baby to worry about, kid," she gently says while giving her a tight squeeze another kiss to the head.

"No, Nicky! I refuse to go if you ain't," the brunette contemptuously cries out. Her grip on the taller woman's body only tightens.

"Baby, this is for yours and that kid a yours best interests. It'll be okay, I promise. But ya gotta go and I have to go back to Red and the family to make sure they know what's going on. It's safer if you just go surrender yourself and tell them you're pregnant, okay?"

Lorna doesn't budge, only holding tighter onto the other. Tears stream down her porcelain cheeks, "I don't care if it's safer or not, Nicky. I really don't wanna be without you—I wanna go with you! Being without you and going through this is more scary than whatever happens if I follow you down to the basement!"

Wrapping her arms snug around the shorter woman's waist, Nicky feels her heart soar with love and pain for her. She lets her hands run tenderly up and down her back. "Fine, you can come with me. But it might not be the safest decision, babe. Piscatella's still unconscious down there and when these guards come find us—they will, believe me—we will be in even more trouble…Ya sure that's what ya want, kid?" Her big brown orbs peer warmly down into the brunette's.

Nodding profusely, Lorna leans onto her and gazes gently up into her eyes. "This might not be a good time or nothin' but I-I kinda love you, Nicky. I can't see my life without ya—that's why I can't leave here if you're not leaving too. I can't risk that, not when I don't know if I won't see ya again! So, there's no way I'll surrender. I don't care what happens as long as I'm with you," she quietly says as they sneak their way to the basement door.

Once the door's closed, Nicky stops at the top of the stairway. She can't help the small smile that slowly spreads across her face. "I love you too, baby—I've been fuckin' waiting years to hear ya say it back. I don't care how horrible the timing is—it still makes my heart flutter with joy to hear those words come outta your mouth," her voice purrs lovingly against the other's ear. She pulls her in for a soft peck on the lips and brushes her hands through Lorna's brown waves.

"I guess that was kinda smart a ya, though, to not wanna risk us not seeing each other for God-only-knows how long. I'll give that to ya, kid. I still don't know how safe the idea is for ya to be risking your sentence length, on the other hand. But I ain't gonna force ya to do something you don't want. Just know that I'll do whatever I can to protect the both of us, yeah?" Her arms pull Lorna up to her chest, giving a loving embrace to her for several silent moments. After which she gently releases her and has her follow her down to the basement where the majority of their family resides.

Red rushes over the second she sees them. Her eyes look the two younger inmates over. "What's going on up there, girls? It sounds like a stampede of elephants or something, she curiously wonders.

"Well, it seems the riot may be ending—forcefully and gruesomely, of course. Guards are going wild up there and dragging other inmates out," Nicky coldly responds, giving a tight squeeze to the short woman standing beside her.

"Where've you been, Lorna?" Piper genuinely questions from her spot on the couch beside her girlfriend.

Lorna stares down at the ground, not sure what kind of answer to give. She certainly doesn't want to announce her pregnancy to anyone else—at least not until this huge riot mess is finally over. "Just, uh, up in the medicine room," her voice barely louder than a whisper.

The redhead standing beside her grabs one of her hands and squeezes it soothingly. "She was just playin' doctor and boy does that suit her," the last part is said in a voice that only Lorna can hear. Her fingertips gently stroke against the other's knuckles. "Anyway, enough small talk, we gotta figure out how to not be caught by those guards and quick because it's not gonna be long before they come down here!"

But before they have the chance to figure anything out, the sound of loud footsteps and the door being slammed has all of them instantly fill with fear and terror. Lorna instinctively clings to Nicky, her face as pale as a ghost. She knows it was her choice to stay with them and risk harsher punishment but that doesn't make it any less scary for her.

Nicky senses the small woman's fear and pulls her close in her arms. She stares lovingly down at her, letting her fingers brush soothingly along the skin of her cheeks, "It's gonna be okay. I'm here; I'll protect the two of us, baby."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains graphic depictions of violence, mentions of blood, gunshot woods, etc.
> 
> Author's Note: This is fiction, so of course, it's not the most realistic thing. Just keep that in mind when reading. If anyone's confused on how they don't get caught or anything, sorry - it's just a story; I wanted it to be short & sweet with a happy ending. I didn't even think about that when I was writing this, my bad.

_Chapter Two (Final)_

Nicky tries her hardest to keep her tight grip on the terrified Lorna but even she can't out-beat these tough and gruff guards. She finds herself face down on the cold ground, her eyes met with the floor pattern. Freeing herself from their strong hold, she knows, will only get her in deeper trouble but the sound of Lorna's heartrending pleas makes her risk it. There is no way she'll allow these goons to hurt the woman she loves with every fiber of her being. Not over her dead body will she.

She swings her legs upwards to kick in-between the guard's legs behind her and pushes herself to a standing position. The other inmates are on the ground as well, giving her surprised glances as she furiously runs over towards where Lorna timidly lies beneath another hefty guard. The cries that come out of her and the words she shakily begs to the men breaks Nicky's heart while also shocking the rest of the women in the room.

"Please, please don't hurt me—I- _I got a baby inside me_! D-don't kill my baby," the brunette's voice shakily cries out, her face buried in her hands against the cold concrete flooring.

Nicky fiercely walks over to her – pushing her way through the other officers who try to detain her – and, without thought, kicks the guard who's holding Lorna down. Instantly, her arms envelop tight around the Italian woman's waist. "This is why I didn't want ya to come down here, kid—I knew ya couldn't handle this…It's too dangerous for you, baby," the redhead soothes into Lorna's ear.

Shaking her head roughly with tears streaming down her pale cheeks, Lorna grips deathly-tight onto the taller woman's arm. Her brown eyes peer desperately up into the other's, "I don't care—I can't be without ya, Nicky…I don't care how much trouble I get in or if I'll be stuck in prison forever I just  _can't live without you!"_

Wiping her own tears, Nicky gives a comforting kiss to the brunette's head while wrapping her arms snugger around her. "You're too sweet, kid. I love you so much; I'll try my best to keep us safe but I can't promise anything," she honestly answers, gently running her hand through the smaller woman's medium-length brown hair.

Suddenly the sound of guns going off causes the room to be filled with loud, frightened, screams. Lorna holds tighter onto the woman beside her and lets out a horrified sob when she notices that Nicky's other arm is bleeding. "N-Nicky, your-your arm— _it's bleeding_!" Her voice quivers in a high-pitched cry as she goes to gently examine it. Though, as she's looking over the other's arm, another gunshot goes off and she feels her body slowly give out on her.

" _Fuck!_ " Nicky shouts, quickly catching the brunette in her arms—desperately trying to ignore the intense pain of her own injury. She feels another round of tears come pouring from her eyes. Staring down at Lorna, her heart soars strongly for her at the sight of blood gushing out of her stomach—this will certainly change the poor woman's life forever, she sadly realizes.

From across the room, Red watches in horror as two of her prison daughters are wounded by gunshots. Anger and tears take over her body. She pushes her way up and with all of her force kicks the officer – who's been holding her down – in the groin region. Quickly, she jogs over to the pair of them and pulls the in for a tight embrace. She doesn't care that her clothes and body are now soaked in their blood; she just hopes to shield them from receiving anymore injuries. The next thing she knows, though, is the feeling of a bullet coming in contact with her shoulder. For the next few seconds, she feels an intense sharp pain but never releases her old on the two women.

The next several minutes is filled with many more loud gunshots but this time is not by the officers—instead it's Frieda, who – after hitting each guard on the head with a blunt object – took their guns and is now going around shooting them all in the chest (or as close to it as she can get without accidently shooting any of her fellow inmates). Once they're all lying unconscious on the ground in their own blood, she has Gina and Yoga Jones help her move them out into a secluded part of the basement.

"Fuckin' assholes!" Nicky angrily growls, after reluctantly releasing the embrace. She cautiously lays the bleeding Lorna onto the ground and hovers over her, letting tears cloud her vision. Staring up at Red, she can't help but allow a few big sobs to escape her. "What the hell do we do now, ma? How bad does your shoulder hurt? It's bleeding pretty bad!"

Red sits down beside her, placing a comforting hand onto Nicky's arm. "I'll be fine—I've had worse done to me. What we need to worry about is getting your arm taken care of and something to keep Lorna from losing too much blood!" Her piercing blue eyes glance over at Alex and Piper—who stand behind them, still in shock—and opens her mouth to bark orders, "You two go find towels and something to wrap Nicky's arm in, _quickly_!"

Finally regaining consciousness, Lorna opens her eyes and immediately screams out in pain. She looks worriedly up Nicky. "Wh-what happened? Why-why does everything hurt so-so bad, Nicky?" Staring down at her body, she lets out a horrific cry as she sees the large amount of blood gushing through her shirt. "The baby—the baby,  _my baby's gonna die!_ "

"Shh, shh," the redhead lovingly soothes, her big brown eyes peering compassionately down at her. She tenderly caresses her face with the tips of her fingers. "Worry about yourself right now, kid. You- _you might die_  and that's not something I can deal with!" Tears run heavily down her cheeks as she presses a soothing kiss atop Lorna's forehead.

"None of that kinda talk—no one is dying, not on my watch," Red fiercely says, grabbing each of their hands and squeezing them tight. "You'll be okay, Lorna; we'll take care of you."

Before any other words can be exchanged, Alex and Piper come running over with a handful of towels and two adhesive bandages. The blonde takes on the task of wrapping the bandages around the two inmates with injured limbs while Alex takes a couple of the towels and uses them to apply pressure onto Lorna's bleeding abdomen.

Nicky shakes her head. "Uh-uh, ya need to lift her shirt and hold the towels directly over the wound. Apply pressure but don't cause her anymore pain than she's already in," she firmly addresses the taller woman while getting her injured arm wrapped up. Once her arm is covered in the bandage, she grabs a towel and helps to apply pressure to Lorna's wound.

"P-please s-stop that—it h-hurts so-so bad," the petite woman sobs out, squeezing her eyes shut in agony.

"Baby, we have to stop the bleeding," Nicky softly informs her. Her eyes stare warmly down into Lorna's; she gently bends down to place a comforting kiss against her cheeks. "Look up here at me, Lorna, and try not to think about the excruciating pain. If it gets unbearable, you can pinch me or something to let me know. Sound like a good plan, kid?"

Watching them silently in sympathy an idea suddenly pops into Piper's head. With a strong amount of persistence, she quickly heads off to look for another (extended length) adhesive bandage. A few minutes later she hurriedly brings it over to where the other four women are and hands it to Nicky, "Maybe wrapping this around her abdomen might keep her from bleeding and not cause too much pain."

"That's actually kinda smart thinkin' there, Chapman," the redhead gratefully responds while taking the bandage. Before she does anything else, she presses a small kiss down to Lorna's forehead. With a sad smile, she peers lovingly into her eyes. "Ya might wanna close your eyes real tight for a minute while we bandage ya up. It's not gonna be too pleasant, babe," her voice soothes in an apologetic tone.

Glancing across to Alex, Nicky gives her a genuine command on what to do; "Carefully remove the towels from her and I need you and Piper to try to keep her from moving while I wrap this bandage around her stomach…it's not gonna feel that great—I'm sure her body will convulse or somethin' so try your best to keep her calm and still."

Lorna squeezes her eyes shut while freely allowing tears to pour out of them. Her hands roughly clench into fists at the feeling of sharp-needle-like pain that shoots through her abdomen. The second Nicky starts to wrap the bandage around her, the pain intensifies even more—she feels as if her insides are about to pop out.

"St-stop—please stop! T-too much pain," the brunette sobs out, trying to push her way out from Nicky's grasp.

"She's almost done, Lorna. Take a deep breath and squeeze my hand—as tight as ya need to," Alex does her best to try to calm the distraught woman.

Once her wound is all wrapped up, Nicky immediately pulls her up and into her arms. She soothingly lets her hand rub soft circles around the smaller woman's back to try to bring her any amount of comfort she can. "I know it hurts bad, kid; I'm so sorry—whatever I can do for you to try to make ya feel any better, just tell me. I love you so much, Lorna," her voice softly informs her.

Interrupting their conversation is the sound of footsteps coming into the room. The four women fearfully look to see who it is and feel a bout of relief wash over when they realize it's just Frieda and the other two members of the family. The three come over to them and Frieda shakes her head, taking a look at the already bloody bandage over Lorna's abdomen.

"We need to get her to the hospital or she's gonna bleed out," she states matter-of-factly.

"And exactly how the hell are we gonna get her to one without any of the guards up there attacking us first?" The tallest of them rationally inquiries, her eyebrows curiously arched.

Frieda smirks and waves her hand for them to follow her. "I'm glad ya asked—I've spent the past five years digging out a tunnel for when something like this would happen. Follow me; it'll get us outta here, at least to the farthest sewer hole I could find."

With Lorna securely in her arms, Nicky follows as quickly as she can behind the rest of them but tries to take it easy in order to not cause too much distress to the petite Italian. Her lips press lovingly against her head, "You're gonna be okay, baby—we'll get ya to a hospital and they'll get ya all taken care of. You will not die on me…ya understand me, kid?"

"But-but it hurts real bad, Nicky—wh-what if we don't make it in time?" Lorna's brown eyes stare sadly up into the redhead's clearly outlining the extreme pain her body is experiencing.

"Shh, shh, don't talk like that. We will make it there and you are gonna be perfectly okay," Nicky's voice is desperate trying not only to convince the disheveled woman in her arms but also herself. There's no way she can survive if Lorna doesn't. "I know, sweetie, I know it's really hurting. Just close your eyes and try as hard as ya can to think about something pleasant. We'll be there real soon, kid."

* * *

Finally, after a fifteen-minute walk and rough climb up to the manhole, they do their best to wave down a taxi. Once one stops for them, they all try to pile in—ignoring the driver's refusal for them all to be in there. Another fifteen-minute drive to the hospital (and a hefty tip to the driver) has them all hurriedly rush in there, not one of them realizing how dirty they look from the walk through the sewer hole.

Nicky yells at a nurse in passing to come help them, overly dramatically pointing at the bleeding – and barely clinging to life – woman in her arms. "She needs fucking medical attention, NOW! Please fucking help her—she was shot in the stomach, she's bleeding and pregnant!" She harshly shouts, her arms still tightly wrapped around Lorna's waist.

"Okay, okay, calm down there. And you're gonna have to let go of her so I can help her," the nurse tries to cautiously inform her, running quickly over to them and uses her pager to page for more medical personnel.

Sighing, the redhead gives one last loving kiss atop Lorna's head and whispers warmly into her ear, "I love you so much, baby. Please stay with us—don't ya dare go to the fuckin' light ya hear me Lorna?" She strokes her face tenderly before very reluctantly passing her off to the nurse, whom she stares with a sternness seeping through her big eyes. "Be very gentle with her—she's already in enough pain as it is!"

The nurse carefully takes the quivering brunette into her arms, nodding slightly. "You need to go get that bloody arm of yours looked at while you're waiting. I'll have someone come talk to you guys once we have her stabilized," she says before hurriedly heading in the other direction.

Red nods her head in agreement with that and takes Nicky's hand, pulling her away and over towards the ER waiting room. She pulls her in for a strong embrace, staring empathetically down at her. "She's right; we do need to get your arm checked out. That should keep your mind busy for a little bit while we wait for news on Lorna. I'm sure it must be killing you after how far you've carried her, my lovely daughter," the Russian woman tenderly states.

"It doesn't hurt that much and I'm only getting it checked if you get your shoulder checked," Nicky retorts.

Red slightly shrugs. "Fair enough," she responds.

* * *

Sitting in the waiting room—hours later—with her arm properly cleaned and casted, Nicky's eyes immediately pop open at the sound of doctor's addressing them all. She sits up and stares impatiently up at the doctor, anxiously waiting to hear how the woman she loves is doing.

"Well, the good news is she's alive and will be okay in a few months or so. The bad news is there's no more baby and half of her intestines had to come out," he calmly updates them.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Nicky glares darkly at the man. "How the fuck is any of that good news?! She'll be okay in a  _few months_? You had to remove half of her intestines?! What the fuck? How is she gonna be okay after that?"

"People can live full and fulfilling lives without some of their intestines, it's not that uncommon. Yes, a few months—it's going to take time for her to recover from this. Anyway, you're all free to visit her whenever you're ready. A nurse will be in to check with her periodically," he says before leaving.

Nicky sighs and stands up. She looks at the other women, "Any of you wanna come see her with me?"

They all slowly shake their heads. Red motions for her to go, staring sympathetically up at her. "You go spend some time with her—we shouldn't overwhelm her with too many visitors. I'm sure right now the only thing she wants is for you to be with her. She needs you, Nicky; go take care of her."

* * *

Slowly entering Lorna's room, Nicky instantly feels her heart sink inside of her. She cautiously makes her way over to the petite woman's bedside and sits in the chair beside her. Her eyes stare empathetically down at her, "How's my Lorna feelin'? They give ya some pain medicine?" She gently grabs one of her frail hands and lays it softly against her chest, using her thumb to softly caress along the brunette's knuckles.

"Nicky…" Lorna softly sniffles, her eyes tearfully peering across at the older woman. A small, broken, smile faintly makes it away across her face. "I love you," her voice low and almost too quiet to be heard.

That smile—no matter how broken and sad it is—brings a strong batch of tears to Nicky's eyes. She scoots her chair as close to the bed as she can get and bends down to gives a warm kiss to the brunette's lips. "I love you too, baby, so fuckin' much. I'll always love you, for as long as we live and even beyond that. How are you feeling? You okay, kid?"

"Y-you're here, Nicky…I'll always be okay when you're here. You-you're all I need," she tiredly replies, weakly using her hand to pull Nicky's face down to hers. She gives a soft peck to her lips and just stares affectionately into her big brown orbs. "I-I'm gonna get a divorce—make that an annulment—because you are the only person who makes me feel loved and safe and wanna live even when my insides feel like they're slowly being burned to death. You are the only person I wanna spend the rest of my life with, Nicky. Without you, I'm a lost and psychotic soul who does irrational things."

At this point, tears are running out of Nicky's eyes in flooding amounts. She instinctively pulls Lorna out of bed—gently and very carefully—and lays her up against her chest. With a warm kiss placed on the top of her head, Nicky runs her hand slowly through the other's brown hair while peering softly down into her eyes. "You're definitely too sweet, kid—even when you're in extreme pain you don't fail to make my heart melt with extreme love for you. You'll never be without me, not anymore. I'm taking care of you for the rest of our lives, baby. You and I—we need each other. There's no denying that; we cannot live without each other, that's absolutely impossible. You're not psychotic, sweetie, you're just a very devoted lover. And I absolutely wouldn't change a damn thing about ya; I love you and  _everything_  about you."

Brushing her hand soothingly through Lorna's hair, she smiles sadly and pecks her tenderly on the cheek. "Close your eyes and sleep—rest is good for you. You're gonna need a ton of it if ya wanna heal faster, babe. I'll be right here holding ya."


End file.
